Single Mom Raising Kids

When I was a stay at home Mom, I felt lonely a lot. I remember the moment I would encounter another adult and elude sincere happiness that I just couldn't muster with my kids. It's not that my kids weren't enough or that they didn't make me happy, it was that they didn't validate me. I'll be the first to admit that I'm a fair weather parent. When things are going well and people tell me that, I feel great. When things go downhill, I take it deeply to heart. The thing I miss when I'm not with other adults is the laughter. I want to share the laughter with someone understanding. The other night, my sweet daughter lost a tooth, and then she lost it. In order to prevent the onslaught of tears, we talked about how she could write a letter to the tooth fairy explaining the situation. She sat at the table and asked me to prompt her with the letters, but I suggested she give it a try on her own to show her sincerity to the tooth fairy. Fast forward a f...

Sometimes talking to a therapist is hard because they are able to get to the nitty gritty of your life and express what you need to hear for challenging self improvement. And then sometimes it's hard because they just don't "get it" and they say something really offensive. For me it was the latter. I've been seeing a sling of therapists over the past couple months and I haven't quite gelled with anyone on my care team. The current woman I'm seeing apparently has it out for single working females. I asked her to talk about parenting because I feel like it's my greatest struggle right now. I want to be cooler, calmer around my kids. Who doesn't? Instead of walking down that path and analyzing it with me, she took the road of being condescending and cold about the amount of time my kids spend at day care. It's just not an option to change that. And, more importantly, no one would ever say to a man the same thing. Right? Maybe I'm wrong, bu...